WESTlocal

A wide selection of community groups, schools, faith groups, town and parish councils and more can apply for funding. You can come up with a plan as a standalone group or join up with others. Your proposed scheme must serve residents based in the area covered by West of England Combined Authority and /or North Somerset Council.

Any WESTLocal service must be open to the public and cannot be solely for school students.

Individuals may put forward a proposal though the expression of interest form, but the lead applicant for the funding must be part of a constituted body. A constituted body is a formal structure which allows an organisation to raise finance or funding. It includes:

A management committee which includes a chairperson, a secretary and a treasurer, a written constitution document that states the aims of the group and how it will operate, a bank account and a set of accounts

Examples of constituted bodies include a Parish Council or registered charity. We can offer further advice on this.

You will need to partner with a transport operator to work with on your application. We can help by providing a list of bus operators who are interested in partnering on a WESTLocal scheme.

- Are locally designed in the community
- Introduce a new service rather than sustaining schemes and services that are already in place
- Help reduce carbon emissions by moving people away from reliance on privately-owned cars
- Demonstrate clear demand within the community for the service not just select groups
- Have a clear plan for ongoing monitoring and improvement during the funding period and beyond
- Demonstrate long term financial viability

Some examples of the types of services you may wish to set up are:

• Bus routes operated on fixed routes and timetables
• Pre-booked minibus services to key locations such as supermarkets, shopping centres, local towns, and transport interchanges (such as major bus stops on the key transport corridors)
• Pre-booked flexible minibus services

Don't worry, you don't need any prior knowledge of running a transport service. We are here to help each step of the way.

Simply submit an initial expression of interest and we will be in touch to discuss your idea and talk you through the next stages, to help you turn your idea into a worked-up plan.

You’ll then have the chance to apply for funding. If you’re successful, you’ll receive ongoing support throughout the funding period to help make your service a success.

We recommend that you partner with a local bus or community transport operator. We can help you explore these options as part of the initial phase of developing your proposal and application.

The first step in the process is to submit an expression of interest online.

Following this, there’ll be an informal meeting to discuss your idea. You will be offered advice to help create a worked-up proposal to apply for funding. The deadline for funding applications for services to commence in September is 31 May 2024.